Gladys Bentley

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Gladys Bentley


Img_capt = Glady Bentley publicity photo
Background = solo_singer
Born = birth date|1907|8|12
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died = 18 January 1960
Voice_type = Baritone
Genre = Blues
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1920s & 1930s

Gladys Bentley (12 August 1907-18 January 1960) was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance.

Biography

Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote. She appeared at Harry Hansberry's "Clam House" on 133rd Street, one of New York City's most notorious gay speakeasies, in the 1920s, and headlined in the early thirties at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. She was a 250 pound woman dressed in men's clothes (including a signature tuxedo and top hat), who played a mean piano and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting outrageously with women in the audience.

On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player", and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". She was frequently harassed for wearing men's clothing. She claimed that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City.

Bentley was openly lesbian during her early career,citation |title=Bentley, Gladys |periodical=glbtq.com |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/bentley_g.html |year=2002 |first=Gillian |last=Rodger ] but during the McCarthy Era, she started wearing dresses, married a man (who denied that they ever married), and studied to be a minister, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones.citation |periodical=QueerCulturalCenter.org |title=Gladys Bentley |url=http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Bentley/BentleyBio.html |accessdate=2007-11-04] citation |title=Hidden from History |first=Martin |last=Duberman |authorlink=Martin Duberman |first2=Martha |last2=Vicinus |first3=George |last3=Chauncey |year=1990 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0452010675] She died, aged 52, from pneumonia in 1960.

Fictional characters based on Bentley appeared in Carl Van Vechten's "Parties", Clement Woods's "Deep River", and Blair Niles's "Strange Brother". She recorded for the OKeh, Victor, Excelsior, and Flame labels.

Venues

Gladys Bentley appeared at:
* Clam House - New York
* Ubangi Club - New York
* Joquins' El Rancho - Los Angeles
* Mona's Club 440 - San Francisco

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlosFG7WyUc Great Vintage Footage of Gladys Bentley on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7634493 Gladys Bentley at Find a Grave]